The Ark is a curious story. It’s essentially two stories in one, with the first two episodes forming one part and the second part. It was the first story to see the wonderful and charismatic character Dodo Chaplet. I will get this out of the way, I don’t particularly like Dodo as I find her irritating and dull. Most people just get into trouble on their first journey in the TARDIS but not Dodo, she nearly wipes out humanity.
The story sees the Doctor, Steven and Dodo arrive on a ship that has been transporting a group of humans who have left the Earth and are travelling to Refusis II. The humans aren’t the only race on the ship, there are Monoids who on first glance look quite creepy. To make the aliens look different the actors eyes have been covered up and the single eyeball is in their mouth. It’s a cheap yet effective way that makes the Monoids believable. The first two episodes are spent getting Dodo to give the cold to the humans who have become immune to it. With the potential for humanity to be wiped out by this cold, it’s up to the Doctor to come up with a cure. Bizarrely this story is finished before the end of Episode 2, the humans are better and the Doctor, Dodo and Steven leave in the TARDIS. When they return they find that a statue the humans were working on has actually gone from being a human statue to a Monoid statue. That wasn’t what I was expecting and was a superb cliffhanger.
However despite the first two episodes being really good, it went downhill afterwards. Ok it was quite good how the Monoids had overthrown the humans but that’s about as good as it got. This story shows what happens when the Doctor gets involved in a situation. Due to his actions the Monoids were able to advance and take over the humans, turning them into a slave race. To be honest the humans that we meet in aren’t particularly likeable whereas the Monoids were very good as the dominant race. Despite this though the second half suffers from a lacklustre story and no real drama.
The acting throughout this wasn’t particularly great. The problem with this third series was that it had lost a great deal of momentum and enjoyable characters that it had had in the previous two years. It’s almost like the Daleks Master Plan had taken a lot out of everyone especially William Hartnell. Peter Purves does an ok job and I quite like the character of Steven Taylor (once you get past The Time Meddler) but the supporting cast don’t really seem the sort of people that you would want to save as they seem wet and unlikeable.
The Ark is a story that starts off well but dips towards the end. There are some impressive sets and the costumes look ok but it’s the story the seems to lose its way that ruins this adventure for me.
The story sees the Doctor, Steven and Dodo arrive on a ship that has been transporting a group of humans who have left the Earth and are travelling to Refusis II. The humans aren’t the only race on the ship, there are Monoids who on first glance look quite creepy. To make the aliens look different the actors eyes have been covered up and the single eyeball is in their mouth. It’s a cheap yet effective way that makes the Monoids believable. The first two episodes are spent getting Dodo to give the cold to the humans who have become immune to it. With the potential for humanity to be wiped out by this cold, it’s up to the Doctor to come up with a cure. Bizarrely this story is finished before the end of Episode 2, the humans are better and the Doctor, Dodo and Steven leave in the TARDIS. When they return they find that a statue the humans were working on has actually gone from being a human statue to a Monoid statue. That wasn’t what I was expecting and was a superb cliffhanger.
However despite the first two episodes being really good, it went downhill afterwards. Ok it was quite good how the Monoids had overthrown the humans but that’s about as good as it got. This story shows what happens when the Doctor gets involved in a situation. Due to his actions the Monoids were able to advance and take over the humans, turning them into a slave race. To be honest the humans that we meet in aren’t particularly likeable whereas the Monoids were very good as the dominant race. Despite this though the second half suffers from a lacklustre story and no real drama.
The acting throughout this wasn’t particularly great. The problem with this third series was that it had lost a great deal of momentum and enjoyable characters that it had had in the previous two years. It’s almost like the Daleks Master Plan had taken a lot out of everyone especially William Hartnell. Peter Purves does an ok job and I quite like the character of Steven Taylor (once you get past The Time Meddler) but the supporting cast don’t really seem the sort of people that you would want to save as they seem wet and unlikeable.
The Ark is a story that starts off well but dips towards the end. There are some impressive sets and the costumes look ok but it’s the story the seems to lose its way that ruins this adventure for me.
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